I’ll preface this by saying I think Jon Jones is an asshole. He started off his career pretending to be the choir boy of MMA, who had all the talent in the world and was a god-fearing young man.

But, as his wins continued to pile up, so did his problems outside of the octagon. Most of them were related to his hard partying, such as:

• Crashing his car, which also housed two other passengers, into a pole in Binghamton, New York, after a night of partying in 2012.
• Testing positive for cocaine metabolites and then checking into rehab in 2015.
• Breaking a pregnant woman’s arm during a hit-and-run accident in 2015, where he ran way from the scene after retrieving cash from his vehicle.
• Getting thrown into county jail for violating the terms of his probation in 2016.
• Receiving a one-year doping ban from USADA in 2016.
• Being stripped of his title after another doping violation in 2017.
• Facing a 2019 battery charge after an incident at the Eubank Showclub in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

His legal issues have caused him to be stripped of a title three times and caused him to embrace more of a ‘heel’ role.

All of the insane behaviour and missteps can’t take away one simple truth: Jon Jones has stayed unstoppable once he steps into the cage.

His only loss, a disqualification against Matt Hammill due to illegal 12-6 elbows in a fight he was easily winning, is not recognized by fight fans.

Since then, the only person who you could really came close was Alexander Gustafsson in their first battle. Jones was put to the test in that bout, but still came away with the split decision.

That’s not to say he hasn’t survived bouts of adversity. Vitor Belfort looked like he had a crazy armbar locked in when they met in 2012. He also broke his toe during his fight against Chael Sonnen in 2013, which may have gotten the fight stopped if it made it to another round.

The thing about Jones, though, is that he always finds a way to win. He also often likes to turn an opponent’s strength against them, choosing to wrestle, strike, or grapple just to toy with the man across the cage.

In that sense, Jones is fucking unstoppable. He’s built a career highlight reel that is hard to match, from his complete domination of Mauricio Rua to win the title, throwing Quinton ‘Rampage Jackson’ around before submitting him, and putting Lyoto Machida to sleep and making it look like he might actually have died in the cage.

Jones just doesn’t give a damn once you step into the cage. While he might not go for the finish like he used to in his youth, that’s the natural evolution of a fighter who has been king of the hill for so long. His most recent fight even came to a split decision against Thiago Santos, whose knees were destroyed in the fight.

Jones is hardly the first elite fighter to become more conservative in their approach, and you just have to look at fellow all-time great Georges St-Pierre to see a great comparison. After a surprise loss to Matt Serra, GSP went on to use his wrestling and stiff jab to neutralize most opponents.

A lack of finishes doesn’t take away from a fighter’s greatness. At the end of the day, winning is the only thing that matters. Just ask the richest fighter of all time: Floyd Mayweather Jr, who also happens to be quite a dick.

Jones’ bout today against Dominick Reyes had a bit of special meaning. The light heavyweight champ was looking to set the record for most championship wins in UFC history.

Jones looked liked a man who wasn’t messing around as soon as he stepped on the octagon, staring at Reyes like he wanted to prove something to himself and to the crowd.

Jones immediately went for the clinch and takedown attempt in the first round, which was stuffed by Reyes, but followed up with a couple of his patented oblique kicks. Reyes was unfazed and pushed the action, looking to land leg kicks and punches to the head.

Jones was able to show his quick movement though, able to dodge most of the blows being thrown at him. Reyes landed the first blow of the fight, catching Jones with a body shot as he was throwing a kick and putting him on the ground. He followed up with a few more strikes that momentarily fazed the champion.

Jones seemed to find his range toward the end of the first round, and started to throw a couple of head kicks that landed but didn’t cause any major damage to Reyes. The first round was close, but looked like it probably went to the challenger.

The second round continued to be a chess match, with Reyes trying to do some work on Jones’ body and legs. He went for a big flurry in the first minute that mostly missed and Jones uncharacteristically went on the retreat while dodging move of the big shots. After a minute of the second, Reyes had already thrown over 80 strikes, while Jones had thrown less than 40.

Jones may not have thrown as many shots, but his crisp technique allowed him to do damage whenever he did land. Reyes visibly started to slow down with under two minutes left in the second round, and Jones began going to work with his jab and body kicks. The second round probably went to the challenger.

The third round continued to be a striking chess match with Reyes going after Jones with punches and a big head kick. Reyes may have been the aggressor, but he was the first one to get a bloody nose. Jones made it 2-1 after that.

The large striking volume of the first two rounds started to slow down for Reyes, but he still held his own. Jones went for another takedown but got stuffed again.

Jones got hurt early in the fourth and forced him to go back to the clinch, where he finally secured two takedowns. Reyes wasn’t bothered much, though, because he was able to get up quickly. Jones had his nose bloodied too. The champ started to pressure again later in the fourth, which seemed to tire Reyes even more – which clearly slowed his volume striking.

The fight looked to be tied going into the final round, and both head coaches were quick to remind their fighters about the urgency of the situation. Jones scored an early takedown again, but Reyes got up right away again.

Even while tired, Reyes kept plugging away. He didn’t land many shots but was still standing at the final horn.

The judges came down to a unanimous decision, with two scoring the fight 48-47 for Jones, while another judge confusingly scored it 49-46.

It was a fantastic tactical fight, and fans would have no issue with watching them do it again immediately.

In the end, Jones got it done again. He set his record, and he continues to not give a damn. In my mind, he is undoubtedly the most talented fighter to ever grace a cage. Too bad he just keeps getting in his own way.